Acer poised to release its Asia version of smartband

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwanese computer maker Acer Inc. (宏碁) plans to release a variant of its first smartband, designed specially for Asian markets, according to an anonymous source familiar with the matter.

The Asian version of the Liquid Leap will be equipped with a larger internal memory to allow for Asian language support such Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters, which require greater storage capacity than Latin-alphabet characters, according to the source, who did not wish to reveal his identity because the project has not yet been publicly announced.

The 1-inch touch-screen smartband will carry the same price tag as a similar model sold in the U.S. and European markets, and is scheduled to hit Taiwan stores in October, the source said.

On May 30, Acer unveiled the specifications and functions of the Leap, one month after it was first introduced in New York. The wearable device is expected to go on sale in selected markets in the third quarter of the year.

With up to seven days of battery life, the Liquid Leap can notify users of calls and messages and track users' fitness statistics, including number of steps taken, running distance, calories burned and sleep cycle, according to Acer.

Users can also use the smartband to access music on their smartphones and play, pause and switch to previous or next songs, the Taiwanese company said.

According to estimates by market researcher IDC, global shipments of wearable devices in 2014 will exceed 19 million units and could continue to grow over the next few years to about 112 million units in 2018.